Oct. 18, 2008
Terra Haute, IN - Both UD Cross Country teams were in action today at the NCAA Pre-National Meet in Terra Haute, Ind., which featured a good majority of the best competition the nation has to offer. The men's team finished 31st overall in the blue race, while the women's squad took 32nd in the white race. Hosted by Indiana State University, there were six different events held over the course of the afternoon at the LaVern Gibson Championship Cross Country Course.
The men's team placed three runners in the top 90 in the 8K men's blue race, each of which ran the course in less than 25 minutes - a program first.
Matt Lemon paced the pack for the first time this season and finished the course in 24:39, a sophomore record and just three seconds off the best time in school history. It was also a personal best for Lemon, who took 69th place overall.
Redshirt junior Mike Andersen, who previously held the record Lemon broke, crossed the line next for the Flyers in a time of 24:45, which was good for 78th overall.
Lemon's brother, Chris, was the next finisher for the Flyers and posted a personal best time of 24:48 (86th overall). The gap between Lemon and the next four was significant, however, as the next Flyer runner would not finish for another 2:28.
That runner was Ryan Shirley, a sophomore, who finished in 27:16 to claim 268th overall. He was tailed by senior Michael Peters, who was able to post a personal best time of (27:35) and score for the first time this season for Dayton.
Running in defense was sophomore Cory McGoldrick (273rd, 28:05) and senior Tom Middleton (275th, 28:34).
On the women's side, Dayton ran its first 6K of the year, and finished in nearly the same order as the past two races.
Sophomore Maureen Bulgrin led the Flyers for the fifth consecutive race, and posted a time of 21:56 to take 102nd place overall.
Bulgrin's classmate, Liz Coorey, was just six seconds behind and followed in 113th position (22:02), while Brigitte Sherman, another second-year runner, clocked in at 22:38 to take 175th.
Freshman Elissa Mason scored for the fourth time in a row for the Flyers (207th, 23:04), while senior Ellen Nienhaus trotted across in 23:14 to round out the scoring (217th overall).
Running in defense for the third straight race was the tandem of junior Alex Miles (221st, 23:18) and freshman Lindsey Cummings (231st, 23:30).
Next up for both teams will be the Atlantic 10 Championships in Charlotte, N.C. on Nov. 1 at 10:00 a.m. EST.
